Age of Empires Online (AoEO) gets official release

We have some good news now for those of you that have been waiting to hear about a release date for the much-anticipated Age of Empires Online, as Microsoft Game Studios has just announced that the history-based real-time strategy game will be going live worldwide on August 16th.

According to Fred Dutton over at eurogamer.net, there are 2 different ways to get involved in Gas Powered Games’ upcoming free-to-play game. Firstly you could jump right into it via the game’s website, which enables you to purchase extra content if and when you want it.

There is around 40 hours of gameplay available without having to fork out any money. However, you also have the option of purchasing the retail version for your equivalent of $19.99. The retail version comes with a number of extras including a limited edition poster and Advisor cards.

It also gives you the Premium Greek Civilization, which unlocks Advisors to enhance your civilization, the Player vs. Player Arena, the power or Rare and Epic items and more, Windy’s Wild Widgets Store, a Hotkey reference card and instructions on how to download the game.

The developer has also got a number of premium content packs planned. The first will provide freemium players with access to all the extras that are included in the retail version for exactly the same price. You can read more about future packs via eurogamer.net.